


On the Horizon

by cosmicdiamond



Category: Hiveswap
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-25 10:15:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16195487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicdiamond/pseuds/cosmicdiamond
Summary: Tegiri makes a difficult choice.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **rated teen and up for: mild descriptions of blood and injuries, and some strong language.**
> 
> so, i'm not the best writer in the world and ive never really done fanfiction before, but i wanted to try my hand at writing out how this story might have gone anyways, as well as its aftermath and polypa healing from her injuries, based on what polypa&tegiri said about it in their friendsims. regardless of my writing skill or lack thereof, i hope you enjoy~:D 
> 
> just one chapter for now, but i have a second one almost completed (as of 10/4) and will probably post it whenever i finish it.
> 
> (also, this fanfic uses several headcanons i draw in my art, such as olivebloods having tails, and all of the teals being in the same class, etc. )

It was a cold autumn night on Alternia. A soft breeze rustled the trees and the bright, harsh light of the two moons cut through the crisp evening air, casting a pink glow on the alien landscape. Six-sweep-old Tegiri Kalbur was making his typical rounds in the streets of Outglut, keeping a sharp, watchful eye out for lawbreakers and delinquents. With the exception of a few lowbloods collapsed in the street and the hair-raising sound of drones flying by overhead, the neighborhood was deserted, the silence broken only by Tegiri's own footsteps. Since arriving home from his legislacerator training courses a few hours prior, Tegiri had been roaming a primarily gold and olive neighborhood of Outglut. His katana was sheathed but ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, and Tegiri was almost ready to call it a night and head back to his hive for the day. He turned the corner at the end of the street, and spotted something unordinary; a bronze and olive blood running in his direction, clearly panicked.

“Ha/t,” Tegiri called out with his hand raised, and they skidded to a stop in front of him, narrowly avoiding a collision. “What is the meaning of this?” Tegiri demanded, looming over them. The two trolls took a second to catch their breath, and the olive blood stuttered out a response.  
“O-our neighbor’s hive was broken into, it’s…. it’s o-on fire and she’s still in there.”  
“Ah. and you came running to me, to dispe/ justice and order in such a discordant mess,” Tegiri said haughtily, adjusting his glasses. “Such is expected, not everyone is we// enough versed in the ways of the b/ade to hand/e these things on their own. Fortunate/y for you, i am here to set things straight.” The two trolls glanced at each other with confused expressions, and then back at Tegiri.  
“No, we just wanted to get out of there in case the intruders came after us too. But if you wanna go in against some psionic bulgelord with eyebeams, be my guest,” the bronze shrugged.

With that, the two trolls took off again, leaving Tegiri on his own. Knowing the criminals would not stick around for long, Tegiri took off, a new sense of urgency in his confident stride. He bounded down the street in the direction the two trolls had come from, now able to pick up a faint scent of smoke in the air.

When Tegiri made it to the compromised hive about fifteen minutes later, he took a minute to survey the scene. Most of the outer structure had already been reduced to a pile of smoldering rubble and ashes on the ground. The only remaining part of the hive was a large, central block that was minutes away from going up in flames as well. Tegiri approached it with caution, his katana drawn in case the intruders were still nearby. He stepped carefully over the body of a large, white purrbeast. Olive blood oozed from several wounds on its body, and it was not moving at all. Peering around the hive, it was clear the saboteurs had made a break for it and gotten away. Tegiri kicked at a chunk of of the collapsed ceiling angrily, he had no way of knowing how to serve them justice for their crimes now. If he could find those two trolls he spoke to earlier, maybe he could ask them about-

“Hey * you, with the East Alternian replica sword * can i get some help here *|” a raspy, quiet voice from behind him caused Tegiri to whip around, katana pointing at a pile of rubble. Confused, he looked left and right. He couldn’t quite find where the voice was coming from until he looked down; a small oliveblood girl with a notched horn was trapped underneath the debris, flames threatening to close in on her. From her position, Tegiri figured that she was the neighbor the other two trolls had mentioned. 

“Are you the tro// who owns this hive?” Tegiri's tone was curt and businesslike.  
“Not really a hive anymore * is it? *|” She jerked her head towards the flames. Tegiri could feel the heat from them creeping up his back, and the wooden frame of the ceiling creaked ominously. “So are you gonna keep standing there * or come and help me, dipshit? *|” A hint of agitation and panic had woven its way into her voice.  
“yes, i do suppose some assistance is in order. ho/d sti//, i wi// have you out in a minute or two.” Tegiri rolled up his sleeves and wrung his hands out, preparing to sift the debris out of the way. 

Moving the rubble was much tougher work than expected. Tegiri was strong compared to some of his teal friends, but he wasn’t exactly beefy, and many of the pieces of the hive were oddly shaped or too large to easily lift. Once the girl was uncovered completely, Tegiri rubbed his hands together, a cascade of dust and pebbles falling to the floor. Confident she would be able to sort herself out, Tegiri turned to leave. But as he was walking away, something inside of him wavered. He did not hear the girl stir, and when he turned to face her again, she was still lying facedown on the floor. She was completely unconscious, not moving at all, barely breathing, her legs bent out at weird angles. Seeing this, Tegiri fought internally about what to do. True, she had been attacked unjustly, but tegiri was no medic. His main goal had always been apprehending criminals, nothing more, nothing less. She had no hive and no lusus, where would she even go? But seeing her laying there, so vulnerable and broken, Tegiri felt a strange sensation tugging at his heart, and he knew what he had to do. 

Maneuvering quickly to avoid the flames, Tegiri scooped the oliveblood girl up into his arms. Her hair was long and wild, the thick tangles disguising how small and scrawny she was. Her chest rose and fell in shallow, raspy breaths, and she was wearing a dingy, badly ripped sleeveless dress with an olive symbol on the chest. Tegiri tried his best to support her legs, which were both broken pretty badly. A patchwork of unsightly cuts and burns crisscrossed almost every inch of her exposed skin. Olive blood from her wounds smeared on Tegiri's gloves, coat, and shirt, and an awful singed smell came from the areas on her tail where the fur had been burned away. Not a moment too soon, Tegiri emerged from the wreckage back into the cold, crisp air. 

As he walked home, Tegiri's gaze drifted down to the girl he held in his arms. In the bright moonlight, he could better see her face and how young she looked. She had to be at least a half-sweep younger than Tegiri himself, and again he was hit with the same confliction he felt back in her hive. If she wasn’t seven sweeps old yet, having no hive or lusus would slate her to be culled. Tegiri furrowed his brow. He knew he had an important decision to make, and the right thing to do was clear. He had to cull her, or he would be breaking the law. 

Stopping at an empty lot on the street, Tegiri placed the girl gently down in the dry grass. Taking a deep breath, he drew out his katana. The culling didn’t have to be anything fancy or over-the-top, just a quick slice and she would be dead, not feeling any pain or even knowing who killed her. Tegiri would be very well within his duty to finish her off, but as he stood over her unconscious body, katana blade glinting in the moonlight, something caused him to hesitate. He couldn’t shake the deep-seated feeling that what he was about to do was wrong. The wind rustled in distant trees as Tegiri stood rigid and motionless with his sword held high, ready to strike. White-knuckle grip on the hilt loosening, he closed his eyes and made his final verdict. 

Lowering his head in shame, Tegiri sheathed his sword. He picked the girl back up and continued his walk home, dawn glowing on the horizon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not sure how long until the next chapter after this one. i have some vague ideas of what to write but i haven't started it yet so it might be a while!

When Polypa finally swam back to consciousness, she was laying on her back on a cushy, low-to-the-ground couch. A large, twelve-paneled window over the couch was covered by blinds, casting the room in a deep maroon darkness broken only occasionally by thin slices of the harsh Alternian sun. Soft, clean bandages wrapped around the majority of her arms, legs, and even face, providing some protection to the tender wounded skin underneath. Polypa could feel some stinging around the wounds, as if they had been scrubbed clean with antibiotics prior to the bandaging. When she shifted her limbs, abrasive, burning pain spread across her skin rapidly. Her eyes were watery and her throat hurt when she inhaled, the smoky sensation bringing the events of the night flooding back to her. She no longer had a hive or a lusus, and she was only five and a half sweeps old. Panic crept into her stomach as she gazed around the room she had woken up in. She didn’t recognize it at all, it was a multicolored clutter of anime paraphernalia, the only free space being a low coffee table next to her current resting spot. In an armchair across the table, a slightly greasy looking troll was asleep, his head on his chest, a sheathed katana resting against the side of the chair. Polypa’s brain was muddled from sleep and smoke, but she could still recognize the troll who saved her life. 

Savior or not, Polypa didn’t want to be alone with a troll she barely knew, especially since he carried a sword and was a lot bigger than her. The panic in her stomach rose, writhing like a pit of angry snakes. She frantically looked around the room for a way to escape. Not seeing an immediate exit, her eyes then fell onto her legs, which were both bound to splints and elevated on pillows. Seeing that they were broken and probably useless, Polypa swore angrily under her breath. Broken legs or not, she was going to at least make an effort to get away. Tentatively, she pulled herself upright and slid off the couch, thrusting all of her weight onto her broken legs. A sharp, stabbing pain shot its way from her ankles to her hips and she yelled in pain, collapsing to the ground with a loud crash. Her panic was now mixed with dread as she heard the troll in the chair wake rather abruptly from his slumber. In a flash, he was standing over Polypa, his katana right in her face, flustered and breathing heavily. Polypa groaned in pain and pulled some bandages away from her mouth, trying her best to keep the anxious edge out of her voice.

“Oh give me a break, trenchcoat * do I really look like I’m in any shape to be attacking you right now? *|” Her voice was hoarse, and it trailed off into a high squeak at the end of the sentence. To her surprise, these words seemed to placate him, and he lowered his sword. His face was twisted into a strange look that Polypa couldn’t quite place. Sorrow, maybe? 

“Ah good, you’re awake,” he snapped to attention, wiping the emotion from his face and speaking with a slightly nasally self-important tone. “I was starting to worry that i wou/d be waiting here a// day for you to get up. We have important business to get down to, in preparation for your case.” He paused for a moment, finally registering that Polypa was sprawled on the floor, her legs once again at very, incredibly awkward angles. Making his way around the table, he quickly bent over and scooped her up. The unexpected contact caused Polypa’s entire body to go rigid, and in a moment of pure defensive reflex she lashed out at him, her claws tearing through the sleeves of his coat and into his skin. He let out a high pitched screech and promptly dropped her, her freshly broken legs slammed against the coffee table and sent another wave of sharp pain all the way up to her hips. 

“Nani, the fuck was that?!” He demanded, rubbing his forearms. Smears of dark teal blood were visible on his gloves, mixing with olive that Polypa presumed was her own. Even though he was incredulous, his sword remained sheathed, and some of the tension released from Polypa’s muscles. 

“Sorry, sorry * just a reflex * I would appreciate a warning next time though, you know? *|” She sputtered quickly, attempting to quell his anger. To show she was sorry, she tensed up only a tiny bit when he picked her up again and placed her down gently on the couch. It was surprising how easily he could lift her, he was much stronger than he looked. Polypa was still wary of him, but the anxieties had settled into a sort of ambient background noise in her brain rather than screaming right in her ear. Still rubbing the scratches on his forearms, Tegiri sat back down in his chair and pulled out a clipboard and a pen, adjusting his glasses on his face. 

“My name is Tegiri Ka/bur. I wi// be acting as your persona/ /egis/acerator in your case against the ruffians who compromised your hive,” he began, in a tone that suggested he had practiced this spiel many times before. “To he/p me he/p you, you are required to…… answer……. some questions.” Something seemed to catch in this throat as he gazed over the paperwork on his clipboard, and he gave Polypa that strange expression again before quickly looking down, avoiding eye contact. The questions he asked her were entirely standard; her name, her blood color, her old address, nothing too alarming or terrible, and certainly nothing warranting him to be acting so weird. Polypa noticed that his eyes caught at a place near the top of the page, and his fangs dug into his bottom lip. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but said nothing. After a few minutes of very awkward silence, he stood up sharply from his chair.

“We//, the sun is going to set soon. I’d best be off to my recuperacoon, to acquire some lastalphabets before class,” Tegiri declared with an odd tone of finality. “You shou/d get some more rest as well. If you need he/p getting to the bathb/ock, my /usus, Tadashi Inu, can assist you. He shou/d be around here somewhere, just whist/e and he will come.” He bowed, and before Polypa could edge a word in, he sauntered off into another room with his katana and clipboard, leaving Polypa alone on the couch. The solitude allowed the anxieties in her brain to dissolve as a deep, thick fatigue settled in her veins, pulling her back to sleep. 

The feeling of something cold and wet pressed against her cheek roused Polypa from her sleep. Groggy, she lifted her hand to brush it away, and her hand was met with a warm and fuzzy, but solid surface. Polypa opened her eyes to see that a large, white dog with opposable thumbs was standing next to the couch, gazing at her expectantly. After plenty of uncomfortable eye contact, the dog pressed his nose to her once again, sniffing her all over. Once the dog pulled away, polypa reached over and gave him a scratch behind the ears, and he wagged his tail excitedly.

“You must be that dweeb’s lusus * what did he say your name was? * Tadashi? *|” Polypa figured the happy bark from Tadashi meant “Yes”. He grabbed the hem of Polypa’s dress in his teeth and pulled gently, as if he wanted her to get up and follow him. Tadashi watched Polypa as she carefully began to slide off the couch, and before her weight fell onto her legs, he crouched down and she draped herself rather awkwardly onto his back. For once in her life, Polypa was thankful that she was almost entirely skin and bones as he carried her down a short hallway to the bathblock. leveling his back with the side of the tub so she could pull herself onto it without using her legs, tadashi then pushed his nose towards a pile of clothes on a nearby stool and left, closing the door with his creepy opposable thumbs. 

The bathblock was small, but not cramped, and the entire space was a shade of light pastel pink. polypa caught a glance at herself in the mirror and cringed, because even with the clean bandages on, her hair was still tangled and dusty, her dress torn up, and overall she did feel slightly grimy from laying under a pile of debris for a few hours. she then inspected the items on the stool; tegiri had left her some of his clean clothes, more bandages, a fresh towel, and a note saying she should probably take a wash in the trap, if she was feeling up to it. Flustered, she crumpled the note up and threw it towards the small dross coffer next to the load gaper. He had an awful lot of nerve telling her to take a bath, with his greasy hair and the trenchcoat he wore that Polypa had noticed two food stains on. Still though, a nice warm bath might help soothe her aching muscles and get her cuts to stop stinging, so she reached over to the faucet and ran the warm water. 

Taking a bath with two broken legs wasn’t easy, but Polypa managed it well enough. Tegiri’s ablution trap was a fancy highblood model too; it had built in heaters that kept the water warm as long as she needed. Her hair was by far the most difficult task, and after a half hour of pulling, detangling, and swearing very loudly, Polypa managed to wrest it back under control. Using some citrus-smelling soap, she gently scrubbed the dirt and day-old antibiotic spray off her skin. It stung a bit on the fresh cuts and tender burns, but the clean feeling Polypa got after rinsing it off was more than worth it. 

After letting the water drain, Polypa used the towel from the stool to dry off, pulled herself up onto the side of the tub, re-bandaged her cuts and burns, and got dressed in the clean clothes Tegiri left for her; three tasks that proved easier said than done with her broken legs. The grey sweatpants and black t-shirt bearing Tegiri’s teal symbol were much too big on her, and the pants didn’t have a hole for her tail either. Giving her hair one last rough scrub with the towel, Polypa tried whistled for Tadashi, who appeared back at the door a few moments later. As he was lifting her up, her stomach rumbled loudly and she was reminded how long it had been since she had anything to eat. Tadashi, hearing the growling noises as well, carried her to the meal block instead of back to the couch, lifting her into a chair and going to find some form of food for her. 

As Tadashi was rummaging around in some kitchen drawers, Polypa noticed tegiri had left his clipboard out on the table. Inspecting it closer revealed that the paperwork asked for her hatchdate, but Tegiri had not filled in any information there, nor had he even asked Polypa what it was. Cold dread and confusion pooled at the edges of her mind, flushing out the ablution trap’s warm relaxation. She couldn’t figure out why tegiri had avoided that of all questions, especially since it was the one that would get her culled. Teals were all about the law; surely Tegiri wanted to make sure she was even eligible to be living by herself before pursuing a trial? Polypa set her jaw and began to contemplate this further, but her train of thought was cut off by the sound of the hive’s front door opening and Tadashi barking.


End file.
